Marvel Masterworks: Luke Cage, Hero For Hire Vol. 1

Reprints Hero For Hire #1-16
Written by Archie Goodwin, Steve Engelhart, Billy Graham, Tony Isabella,
Penciled by George Tuska and Billy Graham.
Inked by Billy Graham, Syd Shores, Paul Reinman, and Frank McLaughlin.

Lucas is an inmate of Seagate Prison, serving a sentence for a drug-related felony he didn't commit. Seagate is a maximum security penitentiary, known as "Little Alcatraz" to its inmates. Shades and Comanche, two other prisoners, are planning a demonstration for the incoming warden. Lucas doesn't want any part of their plans, he just wants to get out of prison.

Seagate's head of security, Albert Rackham asks Lucas to serve as an informant and rat out Shades' gang. When Lucas refuses, Rackham tortures him, beating him within an inch of his life.

This ends when the new warden arrives and demotes Rackham.

Through flashbacks, we learn that prior to his imprisonment, Lucas teamed with his friend Willis Stryker and committed petty crimes in New York City. As they grew older, Lucas drifted away from crime, while Willis delved deeper into the underworld. The two friends both fell for a woman named Reva Connors, but it was Willis who won her hand.

One night, rival gangsters try to kill Willis. Reva ran off to get help from Lucas, who saved his old friend. Reva dumped Willis, worried that his lifestyle was too dangerous. Willis blamed Lucas for the attempt on his life and promised revenge.

Reva and Lucas' relationship blossomed and they were discussing marriage. But their dream ended when Willis planted heroin on Lucas and tipped off the police, which led to Lucas' felony conviction. Shortly thereafter, Reva was killed by a bullet intended for Willis.  

Seagate's doctor, Noah Burstein believes Lucas' story of his innocence and approaches him with an idea. Burstein is conducting a scientific experiment that could increase strength of humans. If Lucas participates, it may help his chances at getting released on parole.

Lucas is placed in a chamber and is undergoing an "electro-biochemical" procedure. Unfortunately, Rackham interrupts the process and turns up the chamber's controls, intending to kill Lucas. However, Lucas breaks out and escapes Seagate. He is shot by guards and presumed dead.

Lucas returns to New York and decides to take a new name. He now calls himself Luke Cage. Since he now possesses super strength and bulletproof skin, Luke decides to set up shop as a "hero for hire" and acts as sort of a super-powered private detective. He rents office space at a Times Square movie theater. Cage's new landlord is David "D.W." Griffith, who manages the theater.

When Luke gets shot, he receives medical treatment from Dr. Claire Temple, who works in a storefront clinic. When he arrives at the clinic, Cage is shocked to see that his old prison doctor, Noah Burstein also works there. Thankfully, Luke's hair is different enough to prevent Burstein from recognizing him. The doctor eventually figures out the truth, but keeps quiet. Burstein feels guilty about experimenting on prisoners and works at the clinic in order to atone for his past sins.

Before Cage can start a new life, he must face off against his former friend Willis Stryker, who now wears a snake costume and calls himself Diamondback. Stryker is armed with a variety of deadly knives and Luke will need every ounce of his superstrength to defeat Diamondback.

Cage's new career as a superhero leads to exciting adventures and encounters with various villains, including:

Gideon Mace, a former army colonel who has a mace in place of his right hand. Mace recruits Vietnam veterans to join his armed paramilitary organization. They plan attack Manhattan and steal large sums of money in the ensuing chaos.

A ghost haunts the movie theater that houses Cage's office.

Who is the Phantom of 42nd Street?

A man named Frank Jenks is killed in D.W.'s theater. Cage was en route to meet Jenks and investigates the murder. Things get more complicated when Jenks' body goes missing. Eventually, Luke learns that Frank's death (and subsequent disappearance) is the work of a crime boss known as Black Mariah!

Laura and Catherine Forsythe are worried that someone is trying to kill their grandfather, millionaire Raymond Huxley Forsythe. The granddaughters contact Cage and ask him to investigate some suspicious accident at the Huxley mansion. When Luke is searching the mansion for clues, he's attacked by suits of armor!

On Christmas Eve, Luke and Claire plan to spend a romantic evening together. Their plans change when Cage encounters gunmen from the past, present and future. But are they really the same man?

Cage takes his strangest assignment yet when he's hired by the Latverian Ambassador to the United States to bring in several former embassy employees. When Cage finds them, a fight ensues and he learns the Latverians are actually robots that have rebelled against their creator, Latveria's ruler Doctor Doom! When Cage visits the embassy to collect his fee, he learns Doom has fled for Latveria without paying Luke!

Luke borrows a rocket from the Fantastic Four and flies off to Doom's castle in Latveria. The Hero For Hire wants his payment and confronts Doom. However, a greater menace arrives and the Latverian monarch is forced to team up with Cage!

The offices of the Mainstream Motors company are attacked by a man who calls himself Chemistro.  He's armed with an alchemy gun that changes the chemical make-up of whatever Chemistro shoots. When one of Mainstream's employees is badly injured by Chemistro, the company hires Luke Cage to bring Chemistro to justice.

His second chance at life seems to being going well. Luke begins dating Claire Temple and his Hero For Hire career is a success. But Daily Bugle columnist Phil Fox gets suspicious of Cage and starts poking around. Fox steals notes from Burstein that prove Luke is an escaped prisoner.

We later learn that a prison review board fired Rackham from Seagate Prison over his extreme cruelty towards Cage and other prisoners. Sometime after that, Shades and Comanche escape Seagate. They were frequently tortured by Rackham in the prison and have sworn to make their former guard pay. They follow a trail of evidence that will lead them to Rackham, who has moved to New York City.

Phil Fox bumps into Rackham at the Daily Bugle offices. After a few drinks, the ex-guard spills his guts to Fox. Before all is said and done, Luke Cage, Comanche, Shades and Rackham all wind up face to face in a suburban New Jersey house, with guns ready to be fired. If that's not enough, the supercriminal Stiletto is watching them from the outside, waiting to attack!

Review:
A solid beginning for Luke Cage. None of these stories are classics, but they're lots of fun and this book is better than I expected. Cage has proven to be a good character, showing up in comic books and TV shows 45 years after his debut.

Story:
Archie Goodwin wrote the first four issues reprinted. These tales are heavily influenced by the "Blaxploitation" movies of the early 1970s and Luke Cage is sort of a John Shaft with superstrength. The origin story is good. During the late 60s and early 70s, prison atrocities and prisoners demanding rights were often in the news. So it makes sense that Marvel would create a superhero that came out of that background. Goodwin sets the tone for the series and the writers that follow generally follow his example.

Steve Engelhart succeeded Goodwin and his first story is a low point for this book. Black Mariah is an ugly outdated racially stereotypical character who speaks in an exaggerated "black" dialect. Even in 1971, Marvel should have known better to publish a character like Black Mariah. Engelheart gets things back on track with the Forsythe mansion story.

"Jingle Bombs" which originally appeared in Hero For Hire #7 is one my favorite parts of this book. It takes place on Christmas Eve and it's one of the Christmas comics I read every December. The story is ridiculous, but it's lots of fun.

The two-part Doctor Doom story is also somewhat ridiculous. But I can see Doom hiring someone like Cage to do his dirty work and Luke is the sort of person who would fly to Latveria to collect his payment. I also guess it was part of Marvel's plan to increase Cage's ties to the established Marvel Universe characters.

Cage has swagger to spare, constantly ribbing his antagonists during their fights. Some may be surprised and/or disappointed that Luke's catchphrase "Sweet Christmas" does not appear in these stories. That came later, but he does exclaim "Christmas" a few times.

Billy Graham and Tony Isabella co-wrote on the last two issue reprinted here and they do a good job finishing the Seagate arc that began the series.

I generally prefer Marvel's "street level" heroes like Spider-Man, Moon Knight and Daredevil. Marvel doesn't doesn't get more street level than Luke Cage, which means none of these stories require Cage to save the world. But that's okay.

The silliest story here features lions and tigers trained by Lionfang to speak English and Spanish.  But the tale culminates with a great fight between Luke Cage and Lionfang at Madison Square Garden.

I liked most of the villains here, all of them give Luke a tough time.  My personal favorite is Chemistro, his alchemy gun is very cool and the ending of his battle with Cage is tragic.

Art:
George Tuska penciled the majority of Marvel Masterworks: Luke Cage, Hero For Hire Vol. 1 and Billy Graham inked all of Tuska's work.

Luke battles Senor Muerte.

Tuska's art here is a mixed bag. Some of the characters faces aren't well defined, but he pencils good action sequences, the fight scenes are all nicely drawn.

Graham serves as both penciler and inker for the latter portion is an improvement over Tuska. I wish Graham had penciled the entire book, here's a gorgeous page that features Cage battling big cats.

And here's another nice example of Graham's work:

Great stuff.

How does it look:

Here's a scan taken from my old copy of Hero For Hire #12:

This is how the same page looks in Marvel Masterworks:Luke Cage, Hero For Hire Vol. 1:

Extras:
Engelhart wrote a new introduction for the book. In the back of this volume, you'll find a Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page from Hero For Hire #1, and five pages of original art and house ads.

The stories reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Luke Cage, Hero For Hire Vol. 1 aren't classics. But they capture a moment in pop culture history and (with the exception of the Black Mariah tale) are all pretty good. Luke Cage is a very likeable character and I hope we get more of his Bronze Age solo adventures reprinted in the near future.

J.A. Morris rating:

3 Sals.

Fantastic Four: Crusaders & Titans

Reprints Fantastic Four (1961) #164-176
Written by Roy Thomas and Bill Mantlo.
Penciled by George Perez, Rich Buckler, John Buscema.
Inked by Joe Sinnott, Vince Colletta

A man calling himself the Crusader shows up in New York, invades a bank and attacks Calvin McClary, the bank's owner. Luckily, the Human Torch is nearby and intervenes. Crusader defeats the Torch and gets away. This menace is armed with Quantum Bands that give Crusader super-strength that make him very dangerous. Johnny will need his Fantastic Four teammates if he wants to stop the Crusader.

We learn that Crusader's real name is Robert Grayson and that used to fight crime under the name Marvel Boy. His father Horace was an atomic scientist who fled the Earth to Uranus in the 1950s.  Horace Grayson needed money to fund his Uranus project and McClary wouldn't loan it to him. This resulted in the deaths of many Uranians, and the Crusader has come to New York to avenge them. This leads the madman to attack banks all over the city. 

Later, the FF are flying over the Midwest when they encounter the Hulk! They battle the Green Goliath and the Invisible Girl eventually subdues him using her force field. The Hulk is turned over to the military. Reed makes a deal with Col. Sellers of the Air Force: If he's able to cure Bruce Banner of his Hulk transformations, Banner will go free and work with Richards.
 

The Thing doesn't like the way the Hulk is being treated by the military. Ben looks at Hulk and sees that they are both "monsters" who are unjustly feared by the powers that be.

Reed uses a device on the Hulk that he hopes will turn him back to Bruce Banner. The device is successful, but Col. Sellers suddenly reneges on their deal and imprisons Banner. When Ben sees this, he decides to free Banner, who turns back into the Hulk. The Thing teams up with Hulk and only the Fantastic Four can stop them.

They battle all over the city of St. Louis. Suddenly, Ben has a change of heart and attacks the Hulk. But in the middle of the fight, the Thing changes back to his human form! He's plain old, human Ben Grimm once again. 

Since Ben is no longer the Thing, the FF need a new member. They hire Power Man, also known as "Luke Cage, hero for hire".

Ben's happiness at regaining his human form is short lived. No one recognizes him on the streets of New York, and talk shows that wanted to interview the Thing are no longer interested in booking him. Plus, Ben feels like a loser knowing that he's been replaced by Power Man. Grimm is further incensed because Reed is paying Cage for his services.

In the middle of these changes, the Fantastic Four are notified of a series of bank robberies. They learn it's the work of Thor's old foe the Wrecker. He possesses a mystically powered crowbar and proves to be a tough enemy. Power Man gets a chance to prove that he belongs on the team when he goes toe-to-toe with Wrecker.

Following that battle, Cage is having a conversation with Sue and Alicia Masters and Franklin. Power Man suddenly attacks them, but Invisible Girl's force holds him back and subdues Luke until her teammates arrive. Power Man steals their Fantasticar and escapes. The Fantastic Four know that Cage must be under some sort of mind-control and wonder who the real villain is. 

Reed knows that they will need all the help they can get to stop Power Man. He also sympathizes with his old friend and builds Ben a "Thing suit." It's an exoskeleton that will allow him to become the Thing again, while staying human. The suit enables Ben to rejoin the Fantastic Four.

Ben tries on his "Thing suit" for the first time.

The FF tracks down Power Man. The heroes learn that Cage is being controlled by their old enemy the Puppet Master! 

After that conflict, a spaceship lands in Central Park.  A golden gorilla emerges from the ship and grows into a giant. The Fantastic Four battle the gorilla and are able to capture him using Sue's force field (which also returns him to normal height). To their surprise, this gorilla can speak and tells them why he has come to Earth. He says his name is Gorr and he came to Earth to seek their help against Galactus, devourer of worlds!

Gorr had been sent to Earth by the god-like being who calls himself the High Evolutionary, who has created a Counter Earth nearly identical to our planet. The High Evolutionary asks the FF to help them find another planet that Galactus can feed on in order to spare Counter Earth. Will the Fantastic Four succeed in finding another planet? Or is Counter Earth doomed? Before it's all said and done, the High Evolutionary must engage Galactus in direct combat.

When the FF directly confronts Galactus, it will have a long-lasting impact on Ben Grimm.

Finally, when the Fantastic Four return to Earth, they are accompanied by the shape-shifter from planet Poppup known as the Impossible Man. The alien finds himself alone in New York City. The Impossible Man eventually ends up visiting 575 Madison Avenue, which houses the offices of Marvel Comics! Impossible Man demands that Marvel create a comic book that features him as the star. When they refuse, he attacks Marvel with extreme prejudice!

Review:
While this isn't exactly "classic"material, Fantastic Four: Crusaders & Titans is mostly fun from beginning to end. But I have some problems with these tales.

Story:
Roy Thomas writes some very entertaining stories in this tpb. It opens with the Crusader story, which features the FF against a very powerful being who has been tragically driven insane. The Hulk battle is pretty good too. It makes sense that the Thing would feel sympathy for his fellow "monster."

The FF battle the Hulk & Thing on the St. Louis arch!

But after that, I'm not crazy some of what Thomas does.  Ben is returned to his human form, something he'd wanted for (at that point) 167 issues. But almost immediately after his transformation, Grimm starts whining about how he's no longer a celebrity. Is it believable that Ben would feel left out when it was time for his teammates to go into battle? Sure, but we should have gotten at least one issue's worth of pages that show Grimm enjoying the return to his normal old self.

Ben cries in his beer.

Power Man, hired to replace the Thing,  is well-written here. Cage tries to balance his enthusiasm with being in the FF with respecting Ben's feelings. It's also good that Thomas doesn't try to overload Cage's dialogue with "urban" idioms, a mistake made by lots of 70s writers.

Gorr's first appearance is ridiculous, but I mean that in a good way. What's not to like about a giant, talking, alien, intelligent golden gorilla?! Thomas gives us a nice tribute to King King and other giant monster movies. There are even references to the 1976 Kong remake. The Thing jokes that "Dino de Laurentiis could save a fortune if he just had a Polaroid".

The Galactus story is pretty good. Thomas demonstrates that Galactus simply hungers and wants to consume the energies of Counter Earth simply because he needs to. But I was a bit disappointed in the battle between the Big G and High Evolutionary. It's teased as an epic clash, but Galactus needs only 9 panels over a page and a half to easily defeat the High Evolutionary.  

The Impossible Man & the FF crash-land in Central Park.

Fantastic Four: Crusaders & Titans concludes on a funny note, with the Impossible Man paying a visit to Marvel Comics. I always liked things like this when I was a kid and still enjoy them today. It's entertaining to see Thomas, George Perez, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee depicted as comic book characters.

There's one more problem with this book. It ends with a cliffhanger. The Impossible Man story was followed by a two-parter that featured the Frightful Four. If you want to read what happens next, it's been reprinted in tpb called Fantastic Four Visionaries - George Perez, Vol. 2 (maybe I'll review that book here someday). 

Art:
The art contained in this tpb is excellent. George Perez draws the first 4 issues reprinted here and also the last story in the book.  Most of Perez' art is beautifully inked by Joe Sinnott, who inks the other pencilers as well. Look at this gorgeous two-page spread from Perez and Sinnott:

Great stuff.

John Buscema was, of course, a legendary artist and one of the best of the Bronze Age. This isn't his best art, but it's still good. Rich Buckler pencils the rest of the book and his art is also excellent. These stories were published during a time when Marvel wanted Buckler to deliberately imitate the art of Jack Kirby. But that's not his fault, and Buckler and Sinnott make a great art team. Here's an example of their work:

Power Man decks the Wrecker, while Ben struggles with life without super-strength.

How Does It Look:
Below you find the splash page as it originally appeared in Fantastic Four #175:

And here's how it looks in Fantastic Four: Crusaders & Titans:

And for good measure, here's another original page, scanned from FF #172:

It looks like this in the tpb:

Thank to SuperMegaMonkey for the scans from the old issues.

Extras:
Thomas wrote a column in FF #176 about the making of the story where Impossible Man visited the Marvel offices. That column is reprinted here. The tpb also contains 4 pages of original art.

Fantastic Four: Crusaders & Titans features some outstanding art from Perez, Sinnott and Buckler and some solid stories from Thomas. This tpb is recommended, but Thomas' handling of Ben Grimm in the middle portions and the cliffhanger ending prevent me giving the book a higher rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 Sals.